


Hammering the point (FFXIVWrite2020 Day 6 - Writer's pick [Clinch (alternate version)])

by Ivelia



Series: FFXIV Write 2020 [6]
Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: Gen, Patch 5.0: Shadowbringers Spoilers, Tumblr: FFXIVwrite2020
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-07
Updated: 2020-09-07
Packaged: 2021-03-06 15:02:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 446
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26330827
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ivelia/pseuds/Ivelia
Summary: Part of my attempt for #FFXIVWrite2020 - September 6 (Day 6 - Writer's pick [Clinch (alternate version)])Grief-crafting isn't always a painless outlet.Spoiler for Shadowbringers (5.0) main story quest
Series: FFXIV Write 2020 [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1906951





	Hammering the point (FFXIVWrite2020 Day 6 - Writer's pick [Clinch (alternate version)])

The repetitive clanging of hard metal onto hard metal, hard metal onto wood was all that could be heard in the quiet night.

Drive the nail into the wood, one, two, three hits. Turn the piece, fix it to the workbench, bend the nail at mid-height, one hit, drive it back into the wood, one, two, three hits, done. Discard the piece. Start on the next one. Rinse and repeat. Again and again. A mindless, boring task.

_Being mindless was good._

Without mind, there would be nothing to derive torment from.

Just hammering, every hit identical, like a machine.

After all, hitting was what she was good for. Not the complicated thinking stuff. It was not like anything she wanted, hoped for, had importance, anyway. _Just being a tool was fine_.

It was _fine_. _She was fine.  
_

The sentence, like a mantra, repeated a little bit more forcefully each time, with a little bit more rage, a bit more pain, until finally…

The hammer fell on the floor, followed by a few crimson droplets. 

\- “Ah… This piece is ruined.” The part she was working on had been damaged, bloodied. Nigh unusable. This was a possible outcome, too. _Oh well._ She bent to fetch the her tool, but felt a tiny resistance as she went to move her now injured hand; a minuscule girl with fluttering butterfly wings was holding her bruised, bloody finger, her teary eyes voicing a silent supplication. She still tried to gently retrieve her hand.

\- “Let go, please. I have to continue…” A severe voice interrupted her.

\- “Don’t pretend you didn’t understand the dumb fairy.” They sighed: “Stupid sapling. Why are you so terrible at asking for help?”

\- “I don’t need Titania’s help to complete a god damn crafting leve. I’m not that useless yet.”

\- “You know this is not what I’m talking about.” Turning to the other mini sized humanoid in the room “Hey, you. Fix her up”. Looking a bit angry at being treated so dismissively, Lily still cooperated, and after a short while, patted the now pristine finger encouragingly before disappearing in a flurry of sparkles to go rest, leaving one human and another type of fairy in the room.

\- “I told you I’m… I _will be fine_.” She wasn’t looking at them, instead fixing the red stain on the floor, in spite of her sight blurring by the second. Her breathing was slightly shaky, but she managed to ask with a somewhat clear voice “I just need a bit of time…” The newly appointed King of the fairy folk sighed before vanishing in the aether, their lingering voice leaving this message:

\- “Don’t forget that we’re here for you, OK?”

**Author's Note:**

> The word I picked for that extra day is an alternate take on "Clinch" \o/  
> This is in the memory of the time I lost trying to figure out how I would be able to write a fic about a freaking woodworking technique as the prompt (I literally watched a vid about hammering nails for this) because this was de definition prominently featured in the first dictionary I looked into.  
> And there was also "Embrace" as the listed meanings so of course I had to showcase Lily-chan trying her best! I'm somewhat perplexed that Eos and Selene are listed as separate characters, and Lily is not in the list. Granted I did the 2.0 Scholar quests like 6+ years ago but I could have sworn they were both Lily?  
> And also, another fairy who is sick of dealing with our shit :p  
> In the end I didn't pic that idea for "Clinch" because ~~I couldn't resist the allure of writing more Wol+Zenos (even if in the end I didn't even have the time to push it in that direction)~~ I had written a fair bit of mopey WoL already, so it might be getting a bit stale  
> I almost picked yesterday's "matter-of-fact" as a theme so I could put back in the content I had to cut to be on time...


End file.
